Wii General Discussion

[Kav]

Rumour has it that Nintendo are discontinuing Wii Speak...

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-16-nintendo-discontinues-wii-speak

[Dante]

Microsoft Turns Australian TV 'Mario 25th Anniversary' Segment Into A Kinect Infomercial

 

So Australia's leading television channel was hyping an exclusive interview with Shigeru Miyamoto & an in-depth celebration of Mario’s 25th Anniversary. It was for Australia’s leading current affair show called ‘Sunday Night’.

 

The segment has just finished, and I am kind of bewildered.

 

The segment “25 years of Super Mario Bros” was actually an infomercial for the Kinect.

 

After spending about two minutes discussing Mario, the story turns to how the Japanese gaming industry is collapsing, and how much “better & smarter” western developed games are, and then it’s all KINECT, KINECT, KINECT!

 

For some reason, the General Manager of Xbox Australia was interviewed for this Mario story, & was actually given more interview time than Miyamoto, who’s interview was cut down to barely a sentence.

 

The segment ends with an obviously mentally disturbed child-like grown man sitting in a room full of plush Mario’s, which even made me feel a little dirty (and I like Nintendo). I would hate to think what the general public would think of a Nintendo fan after seeing that.

 

And best of all, the article is now up on the show’s website.

 

On the front page, it reads:

 

25 years of Super Mario Brothers - We celebrate Super Mario Brothers 25 years on from its launch.

 

When you click on the link to read the full story, this is what you get:

 

Kinect Australia

 

Kinect for Xbox 360 is a controller-free gaming and entertainment experience that was created by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. It enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller by using gestures, spoken commands or presented objects and images. For more information on Kinect Australia and the latest games on offer, have a look at their official website:

 

http://www.xbox.com/kinect

 

Don’t really know how Microsoft Australia managed to turn what was supposed to be a celebration of Mario's 25th Anniversary into a Kinect infomercial, but they did.

 

The segment is just over 5 minutes, so enjoy.

 

 

Kind of sad that the Mario anniversary show was turn into marketing Kinect and western developed games.

Edited November 21, 2010 by Dante

[D_prOdigy]

 

 

[david.dakota]

 

 

I had that same look whenI saw Kinect in Comet.

 

Having said that, notice no one in the crowd seems to be overly impressed either.

Edited November 21, 2010 by david.dakota

[tapedeck]

Having said that, notice no one in the crowd seems to be overly impressed either.

 

Well, it takes more than that to impress Bill, Shigs and Tiger Woods.

[Retro_Link]

I know there are way too many games for us all to play for now, but Zelda/Kirby aside, what games are actually out in 2011?

 

Other than de Blob, I'm really struggling to think!

 

Is the Wii in for a majorly quite year and is it all hail the 3DS?!

[Cube]

Didn't we say the same last year?

[Retro_Link]

Didn't we say the same last year?

I can't remember, maybe!

Sure stuff will no doubt get revealed at E3, possibly leading to a great end of 2011 like it did 2010, but are there really just three games to name between now and E3?

 

EDIT: What happened to that space game?

Oh and there was that sword slicing game (or is that out?), and hopefully we'll get Xenoblade... though who knows when!

Edited November 26, 2010 by Retro_Link

[Burny]

I know there are way too many games for us all to play for now, but Zelda/Kirby aside, what games are actually out in 2011?

Wouldn't a quiet year be the best case scenario for us all? I mean, when are we supposed to play all the too many games we have now?

 

That would make one year of catch-up, ended with a bang by the new major Zelda (I doubt it'll be out within the first 9 month of 2011). Sounds rather good.

 

I'm very much hoping for Xenoblade and The last Story in 2011, but you never know what Nintendo will do with them.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Burny

[Retro_Link]

Yeah, it would be good for us, but I'm not sure a console should stop putting out decent games for most of the a year, I can't even think of any third party efforts!

 

Also...

 

Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Power Tennis Wii, £3.99 @ Dixons.co.uk

[Fused King]

I'd say it's 'all hail 3DS!'

 

I bet it has an amazing line-up of games at release.

Not to mention Paper Mario 3DS .....

 

I agree with Burny though, for I wouldn't mind a small drought of Wii games in the first half of 2011. Perhaps then we might see a rise in sales of Little King's Story and other untouched gems.

 

Speaking of which, I thought this game was nearing extinction, but I wondered around the MediaMarkt at my girlfriend's city and I say at least 10 copies of it:yay:

 

Of course, we strategically placed them all around the Wii section and in front of Kinect and Move:laughing:

Edited November 26, 2010 by Fused King

[Burny]

I'd say it's Of course, we strategically placed them all around the Wii section and in front of Kinect and Move:laughing:

Pics or it never happened! ^^

[Hero-of-Time]

A quick question to those who have the Headbanger headset. Do you know if it works for Monster Hunter? I was thinking about picking one up for it but wasn't sure if it was compatible. Cheers.

[Captain Falcon]

A quick question to those who have the Headbanger headset. Do you know if it works for Monster Hunter? I was thinking about picking one up for it but wasn't sure if it was compatible. Cheers.

 

I don't own it but from what I gather, no it doesn't because it uses different tech to Wii Speak that the games have to have coded into them.

 

Someone care to prove me wrong?

[Hero-of-Time]

I don't own it but from what I gather, no it doesn't because it uses different tech to Wii Speak that the games have to have coded into them.

 

Someone care to prove me wrong?

 

Bah, that sucks! Thanks.

[Ashley]

I don't own it but from what I gather, no it doesn't because it uses different tech to Wii Speak that the games have to have coded into them.

 

Someone care to prove me wrong?

 

This is also what I believe but likewise, I have no proof.

[Tellyn]

Conduit 2 isn't using Wii Speak, because apparently they had the option of using the firmware for either Wii Speak or Headbanger, and they chose the latter. Games seem to be only capable of supporting one peripheral.

[david.dakota]

I don't get the fascination with headsets, I really don't. You do look a bit of a prick with one attached to your ear and its not immersive by any stretch of the imagination with the sound coming into one ear regardless of the in-game source.

 

Not that I think Wii Speak is the ideal solution, but the idea of voices coming from the screen is far better than an earpiece. I think the holy grail must be a close up mic with the sound from your 5.1 set up. If I recall correctly, products like Dolby Live can also track the location of in-game sound sources and represent them in a Dolby system - that must be the way to go.

[Hero-of-Time]

I don't get the fascination with headsets, I really don't. You do look a bit of a prick with one attached to your ear and its not immersive by any stretch of the imagination with the sound coming into one ear regardless of the in-game source.

 

Not that I think Wii Speak is the ideal solution, but the idea of voices coming from the screen is far better than an earpiece. I think the holy grail must be a close up mic with the sound from your 5.1 set up. If I recall correctly, products like Dolby Live can also track the location of in-game sound sources and represent them in a Dolby system - that must be the way to go.

 

I've tried the having the voice coming through the TV with Xbox Live and it's not a patch on the good old headset. You can hear everyone clearly with a headset but when it comes through the TV it's hard to hear when playing a game. Headsets FTW.

[LostOverThere]

Not to mention having kids yell "FUCK YOU, YOU FARKING CUNT!" just as your family walks by is down right annoying.

[Kav]

Headsets are definitely the way to go for communication in games and the Headbanger Headset is no exception, I have it and can firmly say that it's a great piece of kit!

 

It doesn't work on Monster Hunter by the way.

[marcel]

Headsets are definitely the way to go for communication in games and the Headbanger Headset is no exception, I have it and can firmly say that it's a great piece of kit!

 

It doesn't work on Monster Hunter by the way.

 

how is the sound quality?(on black ops for instance) is it as atrosious as the wii speak crappy sound?

[Kav]

how is the sound quality?(on black ops for instance) is it as atrosious as the wii speak crappy sound?

 

It's very good, one of the best headsets around. I have a 360 and I'd say it's as good, if not better, than the headset you get with that.

Seriously, it's a great piece of kit!

[Cube]

Is it wireless or does it plug into the controller?

[Kav]

Is it wireless or does it plug into the controller?

 

Wired. It has a USB connector that you plug into the back of the Wii. The wire is 3m long which is about right given the distances I've played from the TV/Wii.

It has a clip that you can move along the wire so that you can clip it to your clothing so the wire doesn't pull at the headset whilst you're wearing it. The headset itself has a volume control and a mute button too. It sits on the ear quite comfortably and doesn't weigh all that much, it really is surprisingly well built.